Visual Research in Community Psychology

Recap: The Four ‘R’s of Visual Research Methods

  • The four ‘R’s of visual research methods refers to how the collection of visual material varies according to who produces them:
    • Researcher found visual ‘data’
      • Researcher introduces visual materials for discussion
      • Visual materials are used to elicit discussion in one-on-one semi-structured interviews, household interviews, paired interviews, focus groups etc
      • Want to understand how an issue affects a community, images provide a bridge
    • Researcher created visual ‘data’
      • The researcher is often a participant and/or member of the same community participating in the research study
      • Examples include autoethnographic, autobiographical, autophotography etc
    • Research produced ‘by and for’ communities
    • Respondent (or participant) generated visual ‘data’
      • Participants create visual materials for discussion in the interview (this is where we got up to yesterday)
      • Co-constructed and collaborative
    • Representation and visualisation of ‘data’ (next week’s lectures focus)
      • How visual materials are presented in research
      • Careful consideration of status given to images and talk
      • Relationships centred, dictates methods of engagement
      • Both the visual materials and the interview accounts= data to be analysed

Summarizing the Four ‘R’s

The collection of visual material varies according to:

  • Who produces them – the researcher, participant alone or with input from the researcher
  • Whether they pre-exist the research (e.g. media reports), are created for the research (e.g. photo-projects), are enduring (e.g. historical/archival images, family photo) or temporary (e.g. just for the purposes of the research) (Gibson & Riley, 2010)
  • Instructions given to participants – structured (Copeland & Agosto, 2012) or open-ended (e.g. Bagnoli, 2009)
  • When the image is produced – before, after, or during the interview
  • Whether the interview focuses on the topic of interest (Guillemin, 2004) or is centred on the image (e.g. Radley & Taylor, 2003).
  • These choices can have different implications for data produced and analyses that can be conducted.

Today’s Learning Objectives

  • Develop an understanding of what visual qualitative research methods are
  • What are the different types and approaches to visual research
  • The “Four ‘Rs’ of visual research”
  • Consider when we might draw on visual methods in research
  • How do we democratise the method (and why should we)?
  • Relational ethics (principled practice and accountability in research).
  • Consider how images can be useful for formulating responses.

Democratize

  • Introduce a democratic system or democratic principles to.
    • "public institutions need to be democratised“ e.g. housing policy
  • Make (something) accessible to everyone.
    • "mass production has not democratised fashion“
  • How does this apply to research?
  • The movement away from more authoritarian approaches to research

Democratising Methods

  • A lot of orthodox (qualitative and quantitative) methods are implicated in the management of minoritized groups.
  • Interviewer/researcher bias?
  • Interviews are not a neutral method for homeless people (and many others!).
  • Many have negative histories with interviewing (police, government organisations, service providers etc).
  • Expectations of compliance, empathy sometimes lacking
  • Necessitates finding creative ways of democratising the method in terms of power.
  • This is why we do mapping, drawing, photography, etc because it allows participants to also set the agenda for the exchange.
  • It also means interviews become less of a ‘mining’ exercise and more of an exchange between people.
  • This is integral to community-oriented & Indigenous approaches in research

Case Study: Daniel

  • Daniel typifies men at risk of homelessness and loneliness
    • Pākehā, 48 years old at time of research (start date 2010)
    • Extensive history of child abuse
    • Alcoholic by 11 and living on and off the streets by 16 of Auckland
    • Reoccurring incidences of acute and complex trauma
    • Childless and single, chronic illnesses, homeless
    • Lacks intimate connections and a functional social network
    • Quiet, withdrawn
    • Was in detox at the time, seeking housing
    • Struggling to engage with service providers, and staff didn’t know how to connect
    • Broader context…

Procedure

  • (Engagement, selection, refinement of goals & aspirations, collaboration)
    1. Biographical interview
    2. Photo-task
    3. Photo-interview
  • Co-constructed narrative analysis
  • Dissemination & ‘outputs’

Doing Interviews: Key Questions

  • Who should do the interview?
    • Researcher characteristics
      • (insider/outsider, age, gender, sexuality, ethnicity etc etc…)
      • Impact on participants
  • What is rapport and why is it important?
  • Tensions in rapport

Interviews Aren’t Perfect

  • (no method is)!
  • Data removed from ‘real life’
  • People telling you what you want to hear?
  • Demanding (time, energy, skill)
  • Can just get ‘the surface’ (lack of interviewer skill)
  • What happens when rapport fails?
  • Power/control/naïve assertions of voice

Being a ‘Good’ Interviewer

  • Important – a skill to be learned!
  • Diff people have diff skill sets – introvert vs extrovert
  • Important considerations:
    • Be yourself
    • Without forgetting who you are
    • Know your limitations
    • Self-disclosure?
    • Listen, observe, reflect

Beyond Words, What’s in a Picture?

  • Not everybody can express themselves verbally (e.g., young children)
  • Similarly, not all experiences can be easily ‘measured’ or expressed through words (e.g., pain, loneliness)
  • Photos have ‘leaky’ frames, they are a compression, and abstraction, of reality.
  • A reflection of reality!
  • Images can convey an experience of heightened perception, an intensity of looking and feeling (Bagnoli, 2009).

Renders the Situation ‘Real’

  • Material and nonmaterial aspects of culture are linked, and physical objects often symbolize cultural ideas (Little, 2014)
  • ‘Breaking the frame’ of experience (Harper, 2002)
  • In photo elicitation studies participants engage with their environment & experience (e.g of homelessness or as a hospital patient) in a way that would not usually occur (Radley & Taylor, 2003; Radley et al. 2005).

Visual Qualitative Methodologies

  1. Conceptualizing the visual
    • Going beyond data – reading the macro in the micro (social is reproduced in the personal)
    • Integrating visual elements into research mix
    • Using photo-elicitation & mapping techniques
  2. Why use these ‘methods’
    • Minoritised communities are rarely given opportunities to frame their own experiences [symbolic power]
    • Strategies for engaging participants
    • Reduce power differential between researcher and ‘subject/object’/participant
    • E.g., Negative images of homelessness exist, but are not fixed
    • Visual= rich source of insight/the unanticipated
    • Analysis needs to be systematic (without being rigid) & takes time

“Shooting Back”

Giving cameras to participants & inviting them to photograph aspects of their lives gives them the freedom to create their own research agenda in four ways:

  1. Their priorities are the focus.
  2. Counter-storytelling & a vehicle for personal expression.
  3. Gives them time to think things through for themselves
  4. Helps redress power imbalance between researcher & researched (but doesn’t entirely remove it either!)
  5. Be clear about what, why & how.

Questions for the Researcher

  • Are these methods suited/not suited for the community you’re working with?
  • What are the ethical complexities of taking photos? (i.e., photos of families/groups, urupā)
  • Researcher/participant safety and wellbeing?
  • What have you learned?

But What Are Images Useful For?

  • Highlighting inequities in society, outing problems & confronting power/inequalities
  • Show decision makers what it is really like
  • Bring silenced perspectives/ experiences into view
  • Spark different conversations
  • Challenge social distancing
  • Invoke what lies beyond the frame
  • Photographs are described as being ‘articulated into significance’ (Radley & Taylor, 2003).

Applying Relational Ethics to Help

  • Relational ethics critical - embraces Māori ideal of transformative praxis (Pihama & Southey, 2015) –
    • Research is conducted with expectations that it benefits people with whom we work in close proximity
    • E.g research with NOT on people
    • Approach applied at personal, service & structural levels

Summary

  • Democratizing methods means making them more inclusive and accessible to a wider range of people
  • Giving people a say in how things are done
  • Making the research process more transparent and accountable
  • This can involve shifting power, creating shared decision-making processes, and ensuring that participant/community ‘voices’ are heard
  • We will interrogate notions of voice, look more closely at photo-elicitation, and project design and analysis next week